List of Canadian federal general elections

An 1891 election poster featuring first Prime Minister John A. Macdonald.

This article provides a summary of results for the general (all seats contested) elections to the House of Commons, the elected lower half of Canada's federal bicameral legislative body, the Parliament of Canada. The number of seats has increased steadily over time, from 180 for the first election to the current total of 308. The current federal government structure was established in 1867 by the Constitution Act.

For federal by-elections (for one or a few seats as a result of retirement, etc.) see List of federal by-elections in Canada. For the eight general elections of the Province of Canada held in 1843 to 1864 before confederation in 1867, see List of elections in the Province of Canada. There were also earlier elections in Canada, such as for the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada (held in 1792-1836, now part of Ontario) and the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada (held in 1792-1834, now part of Quebec).

Two parties have dominated politics in Canada: the Liberal party and the historic Conservative party (known as the Progressive Conservative party from 1943–2003). If one regards the modern Conservative party as the successor to the historic one, then these are the only two parties to have formed a government, although often as the lead party in a minority or coalition government with one or more smaller parties (the 1917 win was by a pro-conscription Unionist coalition of former Liberals and Conservatives).

Although government has primarily been a two-party system, Canadian federal politics has been a multi-party affair since the 1920s, which saw significant parliamentary presence from the Progressive party and the United Farmers movement. They were supplanted by the Social Credit party and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in the 1930s. The CCF evolved into the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1961. The Social Credit party and the CCF/NDP occupied the 3rd and 4th party slots between them from the 1930s, until the Social Credit party failed to win any seats in the 1980 election.

Since 1980, the NDP has remained a presence in the Canadian parliament, but the situation amongst other non-government parties has been more complex. The historic Conservative party never recovered from its spectacular defeat in the 1993 election (when it went from being the majority government with 169 seats, to just two seats and the loss of official party status). Right-wing politics has since seen the rise and fall of the Reform party and the Canadian Alliance, followed by the rise to government of the new Conservative party. Further, 1993 saw the first seats won by the separatist Bloc Québécois, which has been a constant presence in the Canadian parliament since then.

Summary of results

The third, fourth, and fifth parties' results are included in "Other" if the party did not achieve at least four seats in an election at some point in its history. Results for parties placing sixth or lower (as in the 1926 election) are also included in "Other", as are Independent seats.

Notes

1. ↑ In the 1921 election, the Conservatives ran under the name National Liberal and Conservative Party, and in 1940 under the name National Government. In both cases the Conservatives lost the election and the new name was soon abandoned.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7} Includes results for the Liberal-Conservative Party.
3. ↑ Includes results for the Liberal-Conservative Party and one Conservative Labour candidate.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Includes results for the Liberal-Conservative and Nationalist Conservative parties.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Combined total for the United Farmers of Alberta and United Farmers of Ontario.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Seats won by the United Farmers of Alberta.
7. ↑ Includes results for the National Government party.
8. ↑ Includes results for the New Democracy party.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6} Includes one seat won by a Liberal-Labour candidate in Kenora—Rainy River who sat in the House as a Liberal.
10. ↑ Includes 10 seats won by the Ralliement créditiste party.
11. ↑ All 14 seats were won by the Ralliement créditiste party.

Graphs of results

Bar graph of results since 1867

Stacked bar graph with percentage of seats won in the House

Line graph of results since 1945

Electoral results by parties and independent MPs (as a percentage of total House of Commons seats) from 1945 to 2008.

See also

• Elections in Canada
• List of political parties in Canada
• List of elections in the Province of Canada (pre-Confederation)
• List of federal by-elections in Canada
• Canadian federal election, 2008

References

• "History of Federal Ridings since 1867". Parliament of Canada. http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/LOP/HFER/hfer.asp?Language=E. Retrieved 2007-01-07. 

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